


With A Broken Wing

by Eden Marie Dawson (GodDamnedPlums)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Violence, F/M, M/M, Multi, Rape/Non-con Elements, Slow Burn, Trigger warning: abuse, domestic abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-07-29 21:36:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7700602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GodDamnedPlums/pseuds/Eden%20Marie%20Dawson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam Winchester had the perfect life: a college dregree, a family who loved and supported him, a job that he loved, and a beautiful woman to share it all with. But what is shown is not always as it seems. Sam has been living with a secret, a dark, dangerous secret that might just be the end of his life if he can't open up to someone about it, and soon. </p><p>It just so happens that one of his customers just so happens to be a night nurse at the local hospital, and he doesn't like the looks of that black eye that Sam was trying so desperately to cover with makeup and strategically placed strands of hair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story might be triggering to some, so please, please read the tags. If any of this bothers you, please, don't read. Most of the inspiration for this story stemmed from a mixture of my own personal past of being in an abusive relationship and the song "A broken wing" by Martina McBride, hence the title. 
> 
> Please, if you are in a situation where you are being hurt by someone you love, get help. It's not love if it hurts. It took me a long time to realize that, and always know, that you are not alone.

[](http://s349.photobucket.com/user/Sammy_Morenna/media/With%20A%20Broken%20Wing_zps8oitbffj.jpg.html)

"Come on, Sammy... It's not like you haven't done this kind of stuff before. For me? Please?" 

Ruby's voice was smooth and sweet, but Sam knew that there was venom laced in those words. They were standing in one of the more expensive boutiques that Ruby had wanted to shop in, of course, spending nothing but Sam's hard-earned cash, and she had just asked him to casually slip the security tag off of one of the lacy black bras that she had been eyeing. Something that was way out of Sam's price range. Obviously, he was against the idea. He saw the flicker of anger in her brown eyes right before it simmered out, replaced with a honey-sweet look that smoothed out every crease in her forehead. She widened her eyes, batted her eyelashes, and trailed her fingertips ever so slowly up the underside of his button down, letting her nails caress the soft skin of his lower stomach.

"Please, Sammy?" She egged again, curling her nails into the soft flesh at his right side. Sam had to sink his teeth into his lower lip to keep from yelping at the stinging pain that was now added on to the pain of the bruises that had already formed there. He tore his gaze away from hers, still chewing on his lower lip. It felt raw. When it was clear that she wasn't going to get her way, Ruby switched her tactics. She dropped the sweet act all together and sank her nails in so deeply and swiftly that Sam's knees nearly buckled from the sudden wave of agony that it brought.

"Fine. You want to be a little bitch about this, then we'll just see what Luke has to say when he gets home. Come on. Useless piece of shit." She shoved him backwards, and if she hadn't already taken him down a peg, she wouldn't have been able to, as she pulled her hand back. She threw the bra back onto the shelf and stormed out of the store, attracting the attention of several customers and two associates, who were already looking at Sam like he didn't belong. Ruby dressed in the highest priced stuff that she could get her hands on, and it showed. Sam, he dressed for comfort, in jeans, t-shirts and flannel button downs, so obviously he didn't seem to play the part too well when he went into stores like this. When Ruby had stormed out, leaving Jared to carry the several already loaded bags himself, the associates were glaring, and he caught a few of the customers whispering about how Sam couldn't even buy his wife the bra she wanted. 

Wife....yeah, that was what it looked like, huh? Just a lost, love-stricken husband being carted around by a wife who was doing nothing but spending his money. So of course, when she stormed out like that, that was the preconcieved notion that they were going to have. He sighed and heaved the bags up, ducking his head and following the path that Ruby had made. If he concentrated, he could practically see the trail of fire that was left in her bootmarks.

He laughed, silently to himself. He really shouldn't, but the longer that he stayed with Ruby, the more he was starting to actually believe that she was a she-devil in disguise. He had been so enamored with her, fallen so hard and fast that it had taken next to nothing for her to gather him under her thumb like a lost puppy just looking for a lap to cuddle in. He was only twenty-two when he had met her, fresh out of college and on his own. He had intended to go straight into law school after graduating, he had the grades for it, after all, but his father had gotten sick shortly before graduation, so he had decided to take a break from school and fly back to his hometown in order to help his older brother, Dean, take care of him. The other man had been grateful for the help, even if he had scolded Sam for leaving his life in California behind.

He had taken a small job at a local book store when she had come wandering in with a few other people. She looked so out of place, trailing behind a slightly taller, curvier blonde girl wearing jeans and a black, cropped leather jacket, and a taller and thinner girl with flaming red hair and an army green messenger bag strapped to her shoulder like it was her life support. Sam had zeroed in on her immediately, and when she turned her head, just barely making eye contact with him, he could have sworn that the whole world stopped, if only for that single minute. If only for them.

Ruby must have known that she had him, the moment she looked at him and noticed that clear look of want and desire in his eyes, because her brown eyes, so deep and warm, traveled up and down the length of his body, blatantly checking him out from where he was shelving the latest copies of "To Kill A Mockingbird" that they'd gotten in. He'd heard in passing that it was on the summer reading list, so they'd gotten a bunch in, hoping they could persuade the students to buy from them rather than Barnes & Noble. Sam felt his cheeks flushing pink, but he did his best to meet her sly grin with a small, somewhat shy smile of his own. She winked at him before turning to join her companions, and just like that, he was hers. Hook, line, and sinker.

They started dating shortly after that. Very shortly, actually, because she seemed to be dropping by the book store more and more during the next two weeks, always muttering that she was merely 'browsing' when she was offered help in locating anything. Each time she said the word 'browsing', she would glance at Sam and give either a wink or a wicked grin that made his heart leap in his throat. He was so head-over-heels already, it was ridiculous. So, naturally, when he finally gathered the courage to ask her out on a date, she had cut him off by reaching up and fisting her dainty hands in the front of his apron, jerking him down with surprise force and crushing her mouth upon his. His coworkers whooped and hollared, clapping behind them, but Sam was too focused on the girl of his dreams and the fact that he now had her wrapped in his arms. He was estatic.

And he stayed that way for at least a year. They played the perfect couple in public and private, laughing at each other's lame little jokes and spending countless hours just relaxed and laying in one another's arms, enjoying each other's company. Sam was so blissfully happy that he had been oblivious as to when things had started taking a turn for the worst.

Thinking back on it, he supposed the first time that he should have realized that something was off was when she would start applying slight pressure to his fingers when they were holding hands in public, and he did something that she had found to be embrassing for her. He had interpreted it as her just giving affection, but when the embrace moved to his wrist, and then his arm, he started to get a little curious. Soon, the 'affection' turned painful, and bruises started to pop up. Bruises that Sam found himself having to make stories up for when his coworkers asked about them.

Things had only escelated from there, and by the second year of the relationship, Sam and Ruby's private relationship had grown nearly violent on some days. He would be in the kitchen, cooking something for them, to surprise her with when she came home from work, and if she didn't like what he was cooking, she would slam it across the room, yelling at him that he was a complete moron for even thinking that she would want to eat some kind of garbage like that. One time she had even taken his hand and pressed it momentarily onto the still piping-hot griddle, holding it there for a count of ten before releasing him. Sam could still feel the phantom sting of having to apply ointment to the burn, a pain that was only shadowed by the pain he felt in his chest when he had to lie to Dean about how it happened. He hated lying to Dean, and before he had met Ruby, he rarely ever did. Now it seemed like a normal, everyday occurance. But Sam loved Ruby, and when you loved someone, you did everything you could for them, right?

Which is exactly why Sam had been so compliant when Ruby had brought Luke home. Lucas Milton was a tall man, though he was shorter than Sam, he made up for it in stature. His strength was impeccible, something that Sam was soon to, unwillingly, find out. Ruby had introduced Luke as a friend of the family, but after a bottle of wine with dinner that evening, it had become painfully obvious to Sam that there was more to it than that. Luke could barely keep his hands off of her, either on her shoulders, giving an innocent-seeming massage, or sliding them down to her waist, holding her against his body as they slowdanced to the music that Ruby had put on the record player. Sam felt like a third wheel in his own relationship, but he sat by, thinking that it would be better to share the best woman that he'd ever known than to have to go back to the lonely, pathetic existance of a life that he had lived before he'd met her.

Ruby knew this, too, which is why she knew that he wouldn't put up much, if any, of a fight when she proposed that they involve Luke in their relationship. Sam had been hesitant, unsure about where that put him. He had no qualms about being with men, hell, he'd experimented in college, like everyone does at that age, but he'd never had a full blown relationship with one, and he'd never even imagined trying to make a three-way work. But this was for Ruby, and with one bat of those beautiful brown eyes, Sam found himself agreeing to just about anything and everything.

Except in times like this, when he just coudn't push his morals to the side any longer. Stealing was something that he couldn't make himself do, unless it was for something necessary, like food or water. He and Dean had lived a rough life growing up, but they had only ever taken what they had needed. It was a life that he wasn't proud of having lived, but he had made it through and both he and Dean were trying to make a decent name for themselves. Nothing was going to make him go back on that, not now, not ever.

Ruby sat in silence in the passenger seat of her sports car. Sam had a bicyle that he used to get around town with, preferring it over a car because of the economic value, but Ruby still made him drive her wherever she wanted to go when he was with her. She was focused on her phone, long nails tapping away at the keys with a renewed fever. Her mouth was set into a hard line, her eyes hidden by her hair. Sam leaned over to kiss her cheek as he deposited the bags into the back seat and slid into the driver's seat. She cut him a harsh glare that made him flinch back into his seat. He started the car without a word, and they made the rest of the journey home in silence.

Sam had intended to open her door for her, like he always did, but before he could even get his seatbelt off, she had stormed off into the duplex apartment that they had shared with a couple of Dean's friends, Ash and Jo. He prayed that they weren't home, because once he saw Luke's car sitting on the curb, he knew that this was bound to get noisy. He hated bothering his neighbors, despite how many times that they had told him that he was no trouble. Somehow he didn't believe them.

He braced himself for the inevitable as he lugged the bags in from the car. At first he had figured that Ruby and Luke had gone upstairs, perhaps to screw the tension right out of her system, but deep in the back of his mind, he knew he wasn't going to be that lucky. He was never that lucky. Once he rounded the partition that seperated what Sam called the 'mud room' and the kitchen, he knew he was doomed. Ruby was sitting on Luke's lap, who was sitting at the kitchen table, arms coiled almost protectively around the brunette. His light blue eyes were colder than usual, and his lips held a certain twitch to them that could only mean one thing: he was furious.

"So, you think it's amusing to act like a complete bitch to my girl?"

"Your...?" Sam started, and immediately wished he'd kept his mouth shut. Ruby slid off Luke's lap just before he crossed the short distance between the table and Sam and slammed the taller man back against the wall. 

"Yes. My girl. You don't get the privilage of calling her yours when you decide to show your ass in one of the most prestigious stores in the mall. What's wrong, Sam? Too much moral standard to steal a single fucking piece of clothing for your girlfriend? You love her, but not enough to give her what she wants? No, because you're too much of a little priss."

"I b-bought her what she w-wanted..." Sam was finding it hard to talk with Luke's hand pressing so tightly against his throat. He felt the fist colliding with his jaw, and the intense pain that followed immediately afterward, before he had even seen it coming. "Luke...I'm s-sorry..."

"Oh, you're sorry? You're sorry?" Another two punches to his already sore jaw, and on the second one, he was certain he'd heard bone cracking. Perhaps it was just another tooth being knocked loose or broken. Wouldn't have been the first time.

"I'm going to show you how fucking sorry you are, Winchester. By the time I'm through with you, you're going to wish that you had those high morals of yours shoved up your ass." He fisted his, now bloody from Sam's busted lip and nose, fingers into Sam's mop of dark brown hair and forced him to his knees. Sam had thought that he was going to deliever whatever punishment that he had decided upon right there in the kitchen, but Luke was only getting him into position to drag him forcefully through the living room, by the harsh grip he had on his hair, and up the stairs toward their now shared bedroom. Sam worked desperately, and futilely, to remove the fingers from his hair, his scalp on fire and the rest of his body surely to acquire more bruises as he was drug unceremoniously up the stairs. He cast a helpless look toward the kitchen, where Ruby still stood, but was more pained than shocked to find that she was only standing there, smirking like a self-righteous bitch.

_What have I gotten myself into...?_


	2. Not now, not ever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **A continuation from Chapter 1. Do not read if easily offended/triggered by violence/domestic abuse**

Sam scrambled to find purchase the moment that Luke released him, but it was a futile attempt, because he soon felt the rough edge of the other man's boot pressing into his lower back and forcing him back down to the stained carpet of their bedroom. By now, Sam couldn't remember if the faded red stain was from blood or wine. Probably a mixture of both. He knew that it was better to just lay still and take whatever punishment that Luke could dole out, but it just wasn't in Sam not to fight. He had a big brother that had taught him everything he had known, and the thought of Dean seeing him bow his head to anyone gave him enough strength to fight back even on his weakest days. He braced his hands into the rough carpet and pushed up, the muscles in his forearms quivering as Luke added pressure to the center of his spine.

"If you're going to act like a bitch in public, Sam, then you're going to play the bitch at home. And everyone knows that bitches," he slammed the toe of his workboot, steel-toed by the feel of it, into Sam's side with each word that he breathed next. "Don't walk on two legs."

He felt bile, or blood, he couldn't be sure which, curl at the back of his throat, but he forced it down. He wouldn't give in to Luke's torture, even if his words cut through like a knife dipped in acid. Sam wanted to belong, to be loved and cherished, and to hear those things coming from someone that he had thought could love him, it was a slow torture of its own.

"What do you think we should do to him, babe?" Sam heard Luke say, but his voice was farther away, near the door. He turned his head slowly, his hazel eyes widening when he saw that Ruby was standing there, arms folded and back pressed against the doorframe. She was smirking at him, but giving these long, adoraing looks to Luke. Ones that she had never even graced him with, in all their time spent together. He felt his stomach turn over, but he wouldn't give in to it. Not ever.

"I trust you to find a fitting punishment, darling," she cooed at him, her arms snaking up and around his neck. She leaned up on her toes to kiss his lips, and he responded hungrily, crowding her up against the bedroom door and devouring her mouth in a passionate blaze. Sam had managed to reach the nightstand, ignoring the burning sting in his muscles as he pulled himself first to his knees and then to his feet. The couple had broken apart long enough to catch their breath, and with a bob of her head, Ruby directed Luke's attention back to Sam, unfortunately enough.

"Now what did I say about bitches standing on two feet?" He sighed and shook his head. Sam had turned just in time to see him shedding of his belt. "And here I was going to go easy on you, Sammy boy.... shame you didn't listen to me."

The first crack of the belt hit Sam across the shoulder, just barely grazing his skin. He flinched away from it, but this left his back open for attack. His flannel shirt was sliced open with the landing of the next hit, Sam feeling the sting even through his t-shirt. The fact that he was still wearing clothes seemed to be pissing Luke off. "Bitches don't need to wear clothes. Get them off, now."

Sam shook his head slowly, not wanting to give in to the tyranny. This was his house. He had invited Ruby in, he had invited Luke in, but if he really wanted them to leave... if he wanted out of this life... it meant explaining what was going on, and how long it had been going on, and Sam just couldn't do that. He couldn't bring shame down upon his ailing father, and his big brother who was just now starting to come away from his own darkened past. He couldn't, wouldn't, and so he suffered in silence.

Something sharp and solid collided with his left shoulder, making him twist and fall to one knee. Ruby had thrown something....what was it? A vase? No... it was a statue. A statue that Dean had made in woodshop one day during his senior year. A moose, which Dean had jokingly called him once because he was so tall and his torso didn't exactly match up to his gangly arms and legs, now lay in pieces on the floor beside him. He felt tears springing to his eyes, but he wouldn't let them fall. Not now, not ever.

"He said take them off, you fucking slut." Ruby's voice had lost all sense of that honey-sweet tone that it had held earlier in the day. How someone could go from one extreme to the other was beyond his ability to grasp. He was about to verbally protest, a mistake he knew before he even did it, when another smack of the belt, this time landing on the exposed skin of his neck where his shirt collar and hair met, caused his protest to come out as more of a yelp.

"What was that?" Luke's fingers tightened around the belt, his boots slapping against the carpet as he approached him at a near run. He slammed Sam back against the nightstand, knocking the lamp off and causing the bulb to flash before burning out, broken shards getting lost in the carpeting.

"I s-said n-no...." Sam muttered, eyes locked on Luke's own. When those light-blue eyes hardened, darkening to an almost black color, he knew that he had fucked up. John had always told him that one day the pride that he had inherited from him was going to be the death of his boys, and Sam was starting to wonder if he had been right, even in his ominous joking tone. Sam swallowed hard, but it proved to be a difficult feat since Luke once again held him by the throat.

"You're going to wish that you never said that to me, Sam Winchester. Ruby!" He snapped her name, making even her eyes widen. "Get my knife and the rope from the closet. Bring me something to gag this fucker with." Ruby hesitated for a moment, and he turned his head toward her. "Did I stutter, bitch? Or are you wanting to be tied up right here beside him?"

Ruby shook her head quickly, sent Sam what might have been an apologetic glance, and then scurried off to get the items that Luke had requested. Meanwhile, he had grown tired of giving Sam a choice in the matter of anything, and with one hand pressed tightly to his throat, only allowing enough air through to keep him just at the edge of passing out, he started to tug and rip at the fabric of his flannel and t-shirt. He wouldn't be able to remove his pants by sheer force alone, but he could at least get some of his anger out on Sam while Ruby was gone.

"Gonna make you regret ever coming back to town," he snarled into his face, his rough fingers finding one of Sam's nipples and pinching, hard. He twisted and pulled the nub hard enough to elict a sound from the younger man, but what was actually of pain, Luke had misconstruded as one of pleasure. "Oh, enjoying this, are we? Well, we'll just have to take things up a notch then. Ah, there you are."

Sam looked to the doorway to see that Ruby had returned, the rope looped over her right arm, and one of his ties grasped, along with Lucifer's butterfly knife, in her left hand. She had that smirk plastered back on her face, but it didn't reach her eyes. Her eyes that held a tremor of fear in them, because clearly, neither one of them had ever seen Luke this bad before.

"Well, come on, give the shit to me. Don't make me come over there and get it." He held his hand out for the rope, and Sam tried to plead with her with his eyes for her to stop this, to help him, but she simply shook her head and handed the items over to Luke. When he had turned back around, she mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' and backed out of the room.

"I'll know if you leave, Sunshine. Don't even think about it." 

Ruby tensed, but continued on out of the room. Sam was left alone with his attacker, and he could feel his blood beginning to run cold.

"Now, now...." Luke flicked open the butterfly knife and drug the tip of it across Sam's cheek. "I'm feeling nice... I'll give you one more chance. Are you going to be a good little bitch and strip for me?"

This time, all Sam could do was nod. But he still didn't cry, he wouldn't. Not now, not ever.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

By the time that Luke had finished with him, Sam was left bloody and used. His wrists were rubbed raw, tied to the headboard at an awkward angle that left his shoulders screaming in protest, threatening to dislocate with any movement in the wrong direction. His ankles were bound as well, spread eagle and tied to each post on the footboard, the skin there also rubbed raw, but not nearly as bloody as his wrists. His face was left mostly unmarked, except for the black eye that he now sported when he had tried to fight off being tied down. Luke never left marks in places that couldn't be carefully covered up with clothing. 

The majority of his 'handiwork' had been dealt to Sam's torso, back, legs and pelvic area. His back had been littered with gashes made from so many lickings with Luke's belt that he'd lost count, and the words 'bitch' and 'slut' were carved into the skin of his inner thighs. Sam's lower lip was busted open, partly from getting punched in the kitchen, and partly from biting down so hard on it to keep from screaming as Luke scratched the names into his sensitive skin. 

His ass was left feeling raw and gaping, slicked with his own blood and Luke's come, as he had gone in without any kind of lube or prepration. Luke enjoyed watching as Sam tried his best not to scream, for fear of attracting the neighbor's attention. It had happened on two seperate occassions, and each time, Luke's smooth talking had assured them that they were just getting into a little rough loving, and that all was well. Oh, how Sam had wished that he had been able to plead his case to the neighbors at the door, but even then, it hadn't been this bad.

When Sam proved unable to hold his own voice anymore, even with the edge of the knife pressed against his throat, Luke had jerked the tie into a painful knot around the back of his head and shoved the rest of the tie into his mouth. Sam had wanted to bite down on his hand before he could retreat, but Luke had seen it coming, and instead slammed harder into his ass, causing the other to buck up and groan in pain. He felt like he had been torn apart six ways to sunday, and nothing could relieve the burning pain.

It felt like centuries had passed before a soft light, presumably from a flashlight, shined into the bedroom. Sam turned his head slowly, eyes squinting in the darkness to see who was there. He tensed when he saw that it was Ruby, and that she was holding a bowl of...something.

"Shh, easy... I'm not going to hurt you.. Luke's gone to his brother's for the night." She quickly explained that she was alone when she saw Sam's eyes darting behind her, expecting Luke to join her.

"I'm so sorry, Sam..." She muttered, revealing that what she had been carrying was a bowl of ice water and a towel. She intended to clean him up, it seemed. As soon as she reached for him, he tried to squirm away, despite the pain that it caused him to even move. She reached up to remove the tie, allowing him to speak.

"T-Then why t-the fuck d-d-didn't you help m-me? I t-thought y-you loved me?" His voice was raw, as if he'd been screaming into the gag until it had finally died out.

"I do..." She tried, and he rolled his eyes. "I do, Sam! I just...He's stronger than me. If he can do this to you...." She shook her head as she started to clean him up of the blood and semen. 

"That d-doesn't explain w-why y-you helped him... t-threw s-shit at me... y-you t-treat me l-like t-t-this t-too...."

"Oh, honey, it's just a little tough love with me... I...." She trailed off and shook her head. "Nevermind. I'll get you cleaned up and then untie you and you can sleep it off. We'll all be better and back to normal in the morning."

Normal... hah. What about this was normal? Living with your girlfiend who basically used you for money and sex, and her abusive friends-with-too-many-benifits who liked to try and dominate you both in your own damn household? Yeah, that wasn't normal at all. Certainly not what Sam had had in mind when he had come back from California.

"Get some sleep, Sammy." Ruby leaned down to kiss his cheek, taking his flinch to mean that she'd hit his bruise rather than that he was trying to inch away from her, which he was. Now that he was untied, he was free to curl in on himself, even though the action caused him more pain that he thought he was phsyically, mentally or emotionally able to withstand. He didn't respond to her as she left the room, nor did he even get up the gusto to wave goodbye to her as she stated that she was going to hang out at another friend's house. Alistair, or whatever his name was. Probably another fucktoy. Sam rolled his eyes, and cringed at the throbbing that it caused in his head.

He waited until he could no longer hear the crunching of tires on a gravel road before he forced himself through the pain long enough to crawl off the bed and find his cell phone discarded somewhere near his forgotten pants. He flipped the device open and pressed '1' on the speed dial. It didn't take long for the call to pick up.

"Y'llo?"

"De'... Can you come get me...?"


	3. Cut My Life Into Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean comes to Sam's rescue, and convinces him to come home with him for the next few days. He's not happy to learn about what has been going on with his little brother, or having been kept in the dark for so long, but he knows that there will be time to be angry about it later. Right now, Sammy needs him. But how will Sam take to finding out that his brother-in-law is actually related to the man who put him in this position?

"Jesus, Sammy, what the hell happened to you? Did you get into a fight?" Dean was fussing over Sam like he was his son rather than his younger brother, but in Dean's defense, raising Sam had been a big part of his life growing up, ever since their mother died of complications from an illness shorty after Sam had turned one. Sam had managed to grab the sheet from the bed and tug it over his lower half, retaining some smidgen of self-respect, surprisingly enough, before he heard the sound of his brother unlocking the door. The fact that Dean even owned a key to his house would be enough to send both Ruby and Luke spiraling into yet another fit of rage, so Sam had done his best to keep quiet about it. He was always there when Dean had wanted to come over, so there had never been a need for him to use his key. Not until tonight, anyway.

"Something l-like that..." Sam managed a weak chuckle. Dean had helped him back onto the bed, and despite Ruby cleaning him up, the way that he had been taken had left his lower half in turmoil, so when he lost his footing and collapsed back onto the springy mattress, he couldn't muffle the yelp of pain that escaped. He saw Dean's jaw set and his eyes grow hard, and for a split second, he wanted to cower away. But this wasn't Luke, this was Dean. His big brother. His savior. "I'll be alright De'..."

"You know I don't believe that, Sammy. You only call me that when you've fallen ill, or you're in a really, really bad place. Now I've seen this happen on TV," he rolled his eyes when Sam snorted in faint amusement. Dean had grown interested in way too many medical and crime dramas. "Shut up and listen, damn it. If Ruby is hurting you, I know it can be embarassing to admit, but--"

"It wasn't Ruby," Sam interjected quickly. "Well, not all of it, anyway..." He couldn't look his brother in the eye anymore. He turned his head away and focused instead on the carpet, which was speckled with a few more new stains. At least this time he knew what had contributed to the red color. 

"You've got ten seconds to start talking, Sammy, or I'm going to start going out and finding answers myself. We both know you won't like my methods. Now come on, this is me you're talking to. You can tell me anything."

And that's what hurt. The fact that Dean had such a blind faith in him, and the fact that he'd been keeping this secret from him for....hell, he'd lost count of how long it had actually been. Some days it seemed like it was a distant memory, because the three of them got along great, like some cheesy romcom kind of film. Then, there were days like tonight, where it was so painfully obvious that his life had twisted into his worst nightmare that it almost became too difficult to breathe.

"Five seconds," Dean spoke, even as he started to head toward the bedroom closet. He was picking some clothes out for Sam, sneering as he pushed the more expensive looking items away. He had never really liked Ruby, he didn't trust her. This wasn't helping her case any.

"It was Luke," Sam started, his voice soft and his lower lip quivering. The way that Dean's brow arched as he glanced over his shoulders, fingers paused in the removal of a flannel shirt from the coat hanger clearly reminded Sam that he hadn't shared that tidbit of information with him. He grimached, knowing that this wasn't going to end well. He knew Dean would never hurt him, physically, but....he couldn't handle it if his brother walked out on him now. So, he launched into the explination of who Luke was, and who he had become to both him and Ruby. Mostly to Ruby, these days. When he had finished relaying the details that had lead up to him calling him over, Dean was practically vibrating with anger. Sam couldn't look up, too afraid to see the look on his brother's face. What must he think of him now? Weak? Disgusting? Pathetic?

When Dean grabbed his chin and forced him to look up at him, to meet the emerald gaze that for so many years had chased away any fear and insecurity that he had growing up, he saw none of those things. He saw anger, yes, but he could tell that it wasn't directed at him. He also saw fear, and worry, but most of all he saw love. Dean still loved him, despite how fucked up his life had become. The realization hit Sam like a brick wall crumbling down, and the weight made him crumple against his big brother's chest. Only then, did he allow himself to fully cry. Only when wrapped in the arms of someone who truly did love him, did he allow himself to break.

"Shh, it's okay Sammy... I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to leave you." Dean was always awkward with these kinds of things, but there wasn't anything that he wouldn't endure for Sam, even if that meant that he had to endure a soaked shoulder and a couple minutes of awkward hugging. "Lets get you dressed, yeah? You can come over to my place. Gabriel's there, and I think he'd like to know what's been going on...."

"G-Gabriel? Why would Gabriel care...?" Sam sniffled as he lifted his head, rubbing carefully at his swollen eye. Dean looked apprehensive, chewing on his lower lip. "I'll let him explain that to you. Lets get you dressed before the she-bitch comes home."

Sam wanted to laugh, but he didn't have the energy. He just nodded and allowed Dean to help him into his fresh clothes. He gathered the pieces of the broken moose statue up, refusing to leave it there, while Dean packed a suitcase of clothes and other items that Sam might need or want, including his laptop, work uniform, and some of his books. Dean had convinced him to stay with him for a few days, at least, to give everything, and everyone, a chance to cool down and think.

*~*~*~*~*~*

"Son of a bitch!" Gabriel shouted from the kitchen, and Sam could hear the sound of porcelain slamming against the stainless steel sink from where he sat curled up on the couch in the living room. Dean had set him up with the remote and a glass of warm milk with honey, something to soothe his nerves, while he talked to Gabriel in the kitchen. Sam flinched upon hearing the mug shatter in the sink, sinking down tighter into the ball he had formed beneath the blanket that he'd tugged off the back of the couch. He heard Dean trying to calm Gabriel down, and every now and then he could hear his name being thrown into the mix. He sighed and burrowed his face into his knees. He felt like a child that had been sent home from school and now his parents were discussing what to do with him in the kitchen.

"Hey Kiddo," it was Gabriel's voice, and the nickname that he so lovingly used for him, one of many since he'd met him, made him chuckle silently into his knees. It fit the scenario perfectly. He jumped, though, when he felt a hand touch the top of his head. Gabriel jerked his hand back, eyes wide and both hands now held defensively in front of him. "Okay, okay! I won't touch. But I think we need to talk. I know that you've known me for a while now, and even though your brother and I are married now, it still doesn't mean that I'm no longer your friend." The scenario just kept playing out in his head. What, were his 'parents' trying to tell him that they were getting a divorce? He wanted to laugh. He couldn't.

"I haven't been completely honest with you. Dean knew, he knows just about everything about me, but... hell, Sam, if I had known that it was even a possibility that you would get mixed up with him, I would have told you, warned you, to stay away from him."

This wasn't going the way he had thought. He tilted his head slightly to the side. "What are you talking about?"

"My name... It isn't Novak. Well, it was, legally, changed after I turned eighteen, because I took my stepfather's name, and then your brother's name when we wed, but... my name used to be Gabriel Milton, Sam. Luke is my older brother."

Sam felt like his world had completely stopped, and the edges around his eyes were starting to grow fuzzy and black. He reached out, for Dean, or for something to hold him onto this plane, before the blackness completely took over and he fell forward, off the couch.

The last thing that he remembered hearing was his brother shouting his name.


	4. I'm not afraid of tomorrow

Bright lights, that was the first thing to register when Sam came to, feeling something a hell of a lot softer than the old hand-me-down couch that his brother refused to get rid of beneath him. His head hurt, as if someone had been trying to bash it in with a baseball bat...and in an instant, the events leading up to when everything went black came flooding back to him all at once. The rush of emotion and memory made him sick to my stomach, and even though he knew he'd regret it, he surged upward into a sitting position, ready to hurl whatever was left in his stomach into the nearby trash bin. There was a harsh tugging on his arm, a slight pinch to the inside, near the elbow. An IV. Well, at least that clued him in to where he was, but how did he get there? And why was he there?

"Dean?" He croaked, feeling his burn as he forced the word out. He remembered being at Dean's apartment, playing some stupid scenario game in his head, and then.... Gabriel informing him that he was Luke's little brother. His brother-in-law was related to the same fucker that had beaten him senseless and raped him in his own bed. He felt cold chills running all through his body, his stomach heaving again even though it was empty. "Dean?" he tried again, just minutes after hearing no response from the first try.

"Ah, someone's finally awake I see," a deep, gruff voice came from the doorway. It was a voice that he didn't recognize, but one that commanded in its own right that he follow it until he found the source. And what a source it was. The man that owned that voice was reasonably tall, with a lean build that was partially hidden under his scrub uniforms. A nurse? Had to be, he looked too young to be a doctor. Unless maybe he was an intern? 'Stop it,' Sam chastised himself. 'Stop thinking too much, you're going to give yourself more of a headache.'

"Tell me, do you remember anything before you fainted?" The male nurse--yeah, definitey a nurse--was pulling up a rolling stool to the edge of Sam's bed and shining some kind of light into his eyes. The brunette flinched and pulled back, but the nurse just chuckled and waited for him to relax before continuing. "It's just a routine check up. Your brother and his husband are in the waiting room. Both seem to be worried sick about you. I think your brother even threatened to punch the doctor if he didn't tell them why you weren't waking up."

"H-How long was I out?" It hurt to talk, but he needed to know. 

"Four hours, nearly. Give or take a few minutes." The nurse seemed to see his perdicament about speaking, so he passed him a single cup of ice water. Sam accepted it gratefully and tried not to down it in one gulp. He barely managed.

"F-Four hours? How is that possible?"

"Well," the nurse--Castiel, if he was reading the nametag correctly. Hm, too long. He'd shorten it to Cas, at least in his mind. "It's not actually all that uncommon, especially when one has suffered a lot of brute force trauma. Your brother was right to bring you in, Sam, some of those cuts would have gotten infected if we hadn't treated them."

Sam felt his face burning, with embarassment and shame, both. He hung his head. "Thanks..." he muttered after a long five minute breather had passed between them in silence. "It's normally not this bad...." Why was he telling him this? It wasn't any of his business. He thought he had seen Cas' shoulders stiffen, but that had to be all in his mind. Had to be, beause why the hell would he even care?

"There have been other times?" There was an unmistakable tightness in the nurse's voice. It confused Sam, to say the least. 

"Yes... but like I said, they haven't ever been this bad. Luke norally stops before..."

"Luke? Luke who?" Castiel was looking at him with such a soul-piercing gaze that Sam had to work rather hard to fight back the whimper that wanted to push forth from behind his teeth, because Sam Winchester certainly did not whimper. Ever.

"Luke Milton...." He finally murmured, and by the looks of how tight that Cas was gripping the clip board that held his patient information, he was certain that it would snap at any second. "Cas...?" Crap, he hadn't meant to use the nickname outside of his head.

"I will send your brother in to see you, Mister Winchester. Have a good evening." The nurse left so quickly that Sam was convinced, for a split second, that he had somehow sprouted wings and flew out of there. Just as Dean was coming into the room, and before the door could swing shut again, he saw that same nurse talking heatedly in the hall with Gabriel, in what looked to be a very unprofessional manner. What the hell was going on here?

"Hey, Sammy...." Dean ventured slowly as he pulled up a chair beside the bed. Sam grunted in reply as he settled back against the pillows. "You know that if either of us had any idea that we would have warned you...."

"Warned me against what, Dean? Falling in love with Ruby? Letting her into my house, my life, my heart? Then letting Luke in, too? I didn't care that it hurt, Dean. I took what I could get." He saw the surprised and hurt look on his brother's face, but he carried on anyway. "When you and Gabe got together, I knew it was only a matter of time before I became the third wheel. So I tried to spend more time out, so you and he could have your alone time without having to worry about having to entertain your kid brother. It's one of the reasons I went to college, to get away. Not from you, or Dad, but from the lonliness of being there...but not."

"Sam, I..." Sam held his hand up to cut him off. "Listen, Dean. I am so, so happy for you two. You have no idea how good it is to see you smiling, especially with everything that's going on with Dad. I know that you wouldn't be holding up half as well as you are if it wasn't for the owner of that matching wedding band." He heard Dean chuckle softly in agreement. "But despite how many times you tried to include me in things, I was always the third wheel. The tag-a-long....no, not the cookie. Get your mind off your stomach. I was an addition. An extra that needed to be factored in to almost every situation.

I found some friends at Stanford, even had a few girlfriends. But none of them seemed to compare to the feeling that I got the moment I set eyes on Ruby. She was beautiful, stunning, everything I could've asked for in a woman. And we were happy, Dean. We were actually happy."

"Were?" That frown was back, the kind of frown that tugged Dean's brow down in the center and caused it to crinkle up. He sighed. 

"Yes. Were. I don't know what shifted, but she started to get demanding. She'd throw a fit every time she didn't get her way, and then she started witholding sex when that didn't work. When I started sleeping on the couch because I grew tired of her hitting me, supposedly in her sleep, that's when Luke showed up. She claimed that he was a family friend, but I could tell that there was more to it, even then. I knew I was facing the end of my relationship with her, and I didn't want to see it. Couldn't let go of her.

Then one day she surprised me by telling me that she had slept with Luke. I didn't know what I wanted to do more, scream at her to know why, or break down right there on the front steps while I was holding three bags of groceries in my arms. She had met me at the door, greeted me with those words instead of her usual kiss. Instead of doing either of those things, I walked on numb legs to the kitchen and started putting the groceries away. She kept talking, but I barely remember any of it up until she called my name rather loudly. I turned to face her, knowing my pain was clear in my face, when I saw that she was smiling. She asked if I would be interested in joining her and Luke. As a third." He rolled his eyes at the word.

A third, I soon learned, was not a third-wheel as I had originally thought. It was a three-way partnership, where everything, and everyone, was equally shared amongst one another. It was about love, and expression, and honestly, even though I had never been with a man before, hell, I'd never even looked at one in that way before, it intrigued me. I was curious, and damn ready to get back on Ruby's good graces. And if that meant sharing her, well, then so be it. Besides, one more person meant one more person to love, and have love me in return, right?"

Dean looked solemn as Sam spoke, his hands folded, chin resting on them while his elbows stayed propped up on his knees. Sam continued as he cast his eyes downward. 

"Luke was a rough lover. Ruby warned me that he was into some kinky shit, and I had read up on BDSM before in the past, just out of curiousity, but this...this took it to a whole different level. He got off on humiliating me, making me walk around on all fours, naked with nothing but a collar strapped around my neck and a leash connected to it. Sometimes he'd control the leash, telling me that 'good bitches please their masters'. I was their play thing in the bedroom, but out of the bedroom, I was just another partner. A lover.

Like Ruby, Luke's moods shifted into darker areas, but the beatings no longer stayed in the bedroom. He'd taken to harrassing me when our friends were over, and sometimes, even in public. I've caught people staring, sharing pity looks between one another, but I've never said anything. I figured that it didn't matter that it hurt. They said that they loved me, and, if they didn't, they wouldn't bother treating me this way. They wouldn't bother treating me any sort of way, because if they didn't love me, they wouldn't have anything to do with me. That's the way my mind morphed it into being okay that Luke would take his angers and frustrations out on me, be it in public or in the privacy of our own home. I didn't care that it hurt, because at least I was finally feeling something again."

Dean was damn near on the verge of tears, simply because his heart ached so deeply for his younger brother. All through his life, their father had said "take care of Sammy, that's your job". Well, he'd apparenty done a piss poor job at it, because here his little brother lay, marked up like some kind of bad made-for-tv movie victim. He felt his stomach clenching, threatening to roll over, when there was a noise at the door; someone clearing their throat.

"Visiting hours are almost over, Dean-O." Gabriel had heard most of the exchange, and he had lost a little bit of color during the explination. Castiel had gone off on break, forced to, by one of the doctors because of his rampant display of anger out in the hallway. Dean looked reluctant to get up, but he knew that orders were orders, and if the doctors were anywhere near as bad as that nurse sounded, he didn't want to stick around to find out what happened when you defied said orders. He reached over to squeeze Sam's hand as he stood up. "We'll come check on you first thing in the morning. I'm sure they're gonna let you go tomorrow, they just...just..."

"The doctor wants to keep you overnight to make sure that you don't have a concussion. You hit your head pretty hard on the fall, kiddo." He gave him a wave with his right hand as his left was already seeking out Dean's to hold, to squeeze in an offer of comfort. "Take care, Sam-a-lam."

"Yeah... See yea Dean, and Gabe? I'm sorry I reacted like that...." He felt sheepish for all of this attention that was suddenly being thrust on him like he was some kind of exotic bird. 

Gabriel shook his head, trademark grin still stuck in place. "Don't mention it. Really, just try not to even think about it. Get some rest and we'll see you in the morning."

"Kay... thanks." He nodded and sighed, closing his eyes as his brother and his husband left, letting the room become drenched in an almost uncomfortable silence. He laid still, staring up at the ceiling, for what felt like days before his back began to spasm in protest of not having moved around much. He began to squirm, twitching his shoulders higher onto the pillows to try and refind that comfortable position that he had been previously sitting in, when he heard a familar voice at the door. His blood ran cold.

"Need some help there, Sunshine?" Luke asked, arms folded and shoulder pressed against the door, propping it open. "We need to talk, Sam." He stepped into the room and let the door swing shut behind him. If Sam would have been able to find his voice at the moment, he isn't sure what would have been louder: the sound of the door clicking shut or his scream.


	5. Take These Walls Away

"W-What are you doing here? Y-You can't be here..." Sam hated how weak his voice sounded. How his hands trembled as his fingers fisted in the scratchy cotton hospital-grade sheet that covered his bruised form, what wasn't already covered by the thin paper gown, anyway. He hated that he felt his heartbeat quickening, jumping up into his throat and lodging itself there, causing his voice to squeak out from between the small cracks that were left between.

"Can't? Oh, Sunshine, I don't think you're in any position to be telling me what I can and can't do." Luke had strolled over to the hospital bed and taken up residence in Dean's vacated seat. Every muscle in Sam's body was tense, and Luke could see that. He took pleasure in knowing that Sam was scared of what he was going to do, of him in general. He reached out for Sam's hand, and even though he jerked it away, Luke was faster, gripping his wrist too tightly and forcing his hand back to the bed. "You made a big mistake calling in big brother, Sam."

"H-How come you d-didn't tell me?" He figured Luke probably knew, knew of his name, anyway, so why? Why did he let it go on? "You're...you're practically f-family to me... It's..."

"What? Sick? Wrong?" His fingers tightened around Sam's wrist, making the brunette flinch. "Look, Sunshine, I knew from the moment that my trashy little slut of a brother laid his eyes on Dean that he was going to be lost. Playing bitch-boy to that asshole for the rest of his miserable existance. I loathe your brother, Sam, because he took my toy away. Gabriel was mine before your sorry ass brother came in and jerked him right out from under my thumb. He thought he could escape me, run away and take my filthy step-father's name, but I knew he wouldn't be gone forever. He was never gone for very long before he'd come crawling back to my arms, sobbing about how he had been wrong to leave the one person that loved him." Sam was certain that his wrist was going to snap if Luke put very much more pressure on it.

"But then... then that fucking...that fucking bastard brother of yours just came waltzing on in and fucking everything up. Suddenly Gabriel didn't need me anymore. He said that he had found someone that had actually loved him, and didn't manipulate him into doing things." Luke scoffed, his eyes growing hard and cold, like they had before Sam had been beaten so badly. He knew he was trembling from head to toe, but there was nothing that he could do to stop it. "As if I was really doing anything that the slut didn't practically beg me for." He finally released Sam's wrist, and the younger male brought his hand up instinctively, cradling it to his chest. "But..."

"Why you?" Luke finished, rolling his eyes when Sam nodded. "Because, Sam, you're his younger brother. You're the one thing that means the most to him in the whole world. Of course I was going to jump at the chance to have a little revenge party of my own. When Ruby told me that she had you, it was all too perfect. And it didn't take long for me to convince her to let me join her. We are going to keep you, Sunshine, and you are going to belong to only us. You are going to be where we want you, when we want you, and you are going to do what we want unless you want to end up in a worse position than you are in right now." He had grabbed his chin, fingers pressing deeply into his jaws as he forced Sam to look into his stone-cold eyes. "Do we have an understanding, Sam?"

"I think it's time for you to leave, Lucas." There was that voice again. That rough and gravely voie that did things to Sam's insides that it really shouldn't have. He cut his gaze over to the door, where the nurse, Castiel if Sam remembered correctly, was standing with two police officers crowding the doorway behind him. Luke's shoulders stiffened, and by the smug look on Castiel's face, the police officers had heard every word of Luke's threat and his admittance of being the one to put Sam in the hospital in the first place. They moved into the room, one moving to Sam's bedside to take his side of the story, while the other pushed Luke rather roughly against the hospital room wall and cuffed his hands behind his back. If this was the 'good cop'-'bad cop' routine, it was definitely easy to tell who was who. The officer by the bed took down his information and then nodded to his partner, who shoved a scowling Luke out of the room. He tipped his hat to Sam, and then nodded to Castiel, before following him out.

Leaving Sam with his rescuer. "My knight in Snoopy-print scrubs...." He tried to joke, and when Castiel laughed, he found that it was not only beautiful, but quite infectious. He was soon joining him, despite how much the action caused his ribs to ache in protest. Castiel, or Cas as Sam had silently dubbed him, was still chuckling softly as he checked his vitals and repositioned his pillows so that Sam could sit more comfortably. He was examining the darkening bruise on his wrist when he finally got the nerve to ask the question that was damn near burning the tip of his tongue.

"How do you know him?"

He could see Cas' shoulders stiffen and square, before he blurted out a blatant lie. "He's done this to people before." Okay, well, he believed that part, but he didn't believe that that was the only way that he had known him. He seemed so... angry, when he had learned of who had done this to him, almost as if he had taken it personal.

"Cas?" He tried, causing the other to cock an eyebrow at the nickname. God damn, how could someone cocking a fucking eyebrow be that damn sexy? Get it together, Winchester....

"He's my step-brother, as is Gabriel..." He sighed out finally. Sam felt like his world was imploding....again. Could everything just stop trying to crash down upon his head for five freaking minutes please? That would be lovely.

"I...I see..." Why was he so disappointed? It's not like he was interested in Cas. Sure, he was handsome, from a completely aesthetic stand point, and he had a voice that could make even a nun swear on Sunday confessional, but....ah, fuck. He was interested in him. And he was practically related. ...Right? Step-brothers weren't blood, they were marriage...and...no. Fuck it, stop thinking about it, you've gotten yourself into enough trouble as it is. 

Sam's internal war seemed to amuse the hell out of Cas, who was regarding him with barely contained curiousity. Sam felt his cheeks heating up beneath that soul-piercing gaze.

"He won't be hurting you again, Sam. I am going to make sure that the paperwork on his restraining order goes through as swiftly as poss-"

"Restraining order?" Sam's voice was a pitch too high for his liking. Castiel looked at him in confusion.

"Yes... I was under the impression that you would be wanting to file one against him... Was I wrong?"

"Yes, well, no. I..." He let his head fall back against the pillows and sighed in irritation. "I don't know."

"I can always cease the process...." 

"No, it's fine, it's just... Luke and I...." What the hell were they? He couldn't even be alone with him without trembling, but yet the idea of being free, truly free of him, scared the hell out of him. He knew that alone, Ruby couldn't hurt him, not physically anyway. That wasn't her forte. She worked the mental angle, driving Sam into the darkest parts of his mind until he had to come crawling out on his belly just to feel normal again. He shuddered, unable to stop himself.

"Sam," Cas' hand reached out to gently lay overtop both of his, since Sam had folded his in his lap. "It doesn't have to be that way. Luke and this other woman, whatever her name is, they don't truly care about you. If they did, then they wouldn't hurt you, physically, emotionally or mentally. Love isn't supposed to hurt. Unless it is mutally agreed upon by both parties before the start of the game." He flashed him a quick grin, making Sam bark out an unexpected laugh. Cheeky little bastard, wasn't he?

"I don't...I don't know how to be free anymore. This has gone on for so long that it's all I know now..." God, he sounded like he had a bad case of Stockholm syndrom. Which....now that he thought about it, he probably did. He knew he was basically being held captive by these two, but here he was, trying to justify their actions to someone who was truly only trying to help. He felt like such a tool. Cas squeezed his hands lightly, not even hard enough to put pressure on the bruises.

"You learn these things, Sam. You let your brother and brother-in-law help you, you lean on those that are more than willing and ready to help you, and you learn to live again, without the pain. I won't lie, it won't be easy, and you will have times where you want to stumble back into what is known and disguised as 'safe' or 'easy', but it is these times, especially, when you need to turn to your family the most. If you're too embrassed to go to them, go to a neighbor, or someone else whom you feel you can trust, and let them help you. You can get through this, Sam, you just have to always remember to keep fighting."

Sam wasn't sure where the tears were even stemming from, Cas' kind words, the hope that they brought, or the embarassment that they needed to be said at all, but they were still there, brimming at the edges. He didn't let them fall, not until Castiel had run one last check on his vitals and made sure he was comfortable, and not until he had said his goodbye's and left Sam to his own devices. He only let the tears fall when he reached over to click the beside lamp off, and let the full weight of Castiel's words wash over him like a tidal wave.

Could he really, truly, ever be free again?


End file.
